Ticket approval system for and method of performing quality control in field service applications

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for assessing a locate and marking operation. Ticket information is received as provided to a first locate technician prior to performing the operation. A locate manifest is received including a digital marked-up image of a geographic area surrounding a dig area in which the operation was performed, on which image at least one digital representation of at least one locate mark is electronically overlaid. The locate manifest, at least some of the ticket information, and a plurality of icons representing different possible quality assessments of the locate and marking operation are displayed. The plurality of icons includes an approved icon representing a satisfactory locate and marking operation, a QC icon representing an unsatisfactory locate and marking operation, and a coach icon representing that the first locate technician requires coaching. One of the displayed icons is selected so as to provide a quality assessment of the locate and marking operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, as acontinuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No.12/204,454, filed on Sep. 4, 2008, entitled “Ticket Approval System forand Method of Performing Quality Control in Field Service Applications.”Ser. No. 12/204,454 in turn claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e),of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/076,253, filed in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office on Jun. 27, 2008, having the same title.

Ser. No. 12/204,454 also claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, acontinuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.12/029,732, filed on Feb. 12, 2008, entitled “Electronic Manifest ofUnderground Facility Locate Marks.”

Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to quality control in fieldservice applications. In particular, the present disclosure is directedto a work order approval system and method of performing quality controlin field service applications, such as locate operations.

2. Description of the Related Art

Field service applications may be any application in which companiesdispatch technicians and/or other staff into the field in order toperform, for example, certain installations, services, and/or repairs.Field service applications may exist in industries, such as, but notlimited to, network installations, utility installations, securitysystems, construction, medical equipment, heating, ventilating, and airconditioning (HVAC), and the like.

In certain field service applications, there may be an associated workorder for each field call. These work orders are hereafter referred toas tickets. The ticket information may include, for example, thephysical address or other location information to which the fieldtechnician is dispatched, the type of installation service, and/orrepair that is requested. Depending on the field service application,certain processes may exist for verifying certain aspects of theinstallations, services, and/or repairs that are to be performed by thefield service technicians according to the ticket information. Sincethere may be numerous field technicians, each of whom are assignednumerous tickets, implementing and performing meaningful oversight andquality control activities in a timely fashion may be difficult. As aresult of the limited quality control activities in certain fieldservice applications, customer satisfaction may be adversely affected.Additionally, the time, effort, and cost that is associated withre-performing work in the field or with correcting and/or improvingpoorly performed field calls may be unacceptable.

Consequently, a need exists for methods of providing oversight andquality control in field service applications in order to improvecustomer satisfaction, to identify and reduce the number of poorlyperformed tickets, and to improve visibility into distributed workforceoperations. More specifically, a need exists for improved approaches toquality control in the underground facility locate industry in order toimprove customer satisfaction and to reduce the risk of damage tounderground facilities due to poorly performed locate operations.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofperforming quality control in a field service application is presented.The method includes obtaining a ticket, performing at least one taskassociated with the ticket, collecting data associated with at least onetask, and transmitting the data to a work management server. The methodfurther includes reviewing the data received by the approval applicationfor quality control purposes. The work management server includes adatabase and an approval application.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofperforming quality control in a field service application is provided.The method includes obtaining a ticket associated with a determinationof a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, anddetermining the presence or absence of at least one undergroundfacility. The method further includes performing at least one taskresulting from the step of determining, generating and collecting dataassociated with a dig area defined in the ticket, transmitting the datato a work management server, and reviewing the data received by theapproval application for quality control purposes. Further, the workmanagement server includes a database and an approval application.

According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, a system formaintaining quality control in a field service application is presented.The system includes a ticket with a work order and a dig area associatedwith the work order, a locate technician to determine a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility, and an image capturemechanism to obtain data associated with the ticket. The system alsoincludes a work management server and a network to transmit the dataassociated with the ticket to the work management server. The workmanagement server includes a database and a ticket approval applicationand the ticket approval application is a software application thatprovides a graphical computerized mechanism for an approver to perform aquality control review.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system ispresented. The system includes a ticket with a work order and a dig areaassociated with the work order. The ticket is associated with at leastone task and the task includes marking for a presence or an absence ofat least one underground facility. The system also includes a locatetechnician to perform at least one task associated with the ticket, animage capture mechanism to obtain data associated with the ticket, awork management server, and a network. The work management serverincludes a database and a ticket approval application. Further, thenetwork transmits the data associated with the ticket and theperformance of at least one task associated with the ticket to the workmanagement server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and features of the present disclosure, which are believedto be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.The present disclosure, both as to its organization and manner ofoperation, together with further objectives and advantages, may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings as set forth below:

FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of an example of a ticketapproval system for performing oversight and quality control, inaccordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of an example of a method ofperforming oversight and quality control using the ticket approvalsystem, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an approver inbox GUI for use in theticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an approver image viewer GUI for use inthe ticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a QC referral popup window for use inthe ticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a QC approver inbox GUI for use in theticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a QC approver image viewer GUI for usein the ticket approval system, in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a reject QC popup window for use in theticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a coaching popup window for use in theticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates another example of the approver image viewer GUI foruse in the ticket approval system, in accordance with the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a ticket summary GUI for use in theticket approval system, in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the sameor similar elements. In addition, the following detailed descriptiondoes not limit the present disclosure.

In the discussion that follows, the term “dig area” means any specifiedgeographic area within which excavation may occur, the term “excavation”means disturbing or penetrating the ground, the term “excavation area”means the ground where excavation occurs or will occur, and the term“facility owner” means an owner, an operator, or a third partycontractor that provides the services of a locate operation and/or amarking operation to a facility owner as an agent or otherwise. Examplesof a facility owner may include, but are not limited to, a gas company,a water company, a sewer company, a power company, a telephone company,or a cable company. In addition, the term “image” means any image,depiction, and/or visual representation. An image may be, but is notlimited to, images captured or stored in any human or machine readableformat.

Further, the term “locate device” means any apparatus and/or device fordetecting and/or inferring the presence or absence of any facility,including without limitation, any underground facility, the term “locatemark” means any mark, sign, and/or other means indicating the presenceor absence of any underground facility. Examples of locate marks mayinclude, but are not limited to, marks made with marking materials,marking objects, global positioning or other information, and/or anyother means. Locate marks may be represented in any form including,without limitation, physical, visible, electronic, and/or anycombination thereof. The term “locate operation” means any activity todetect or infer the presence or absence of an underground facility, andthe term “marking operation” means any activity to mark the presence orabsence of an underground facility. In addition, the term “locatetechnician” means an individual performing a locate or a locateoperation. The term “manifest” means any record in any form thatcomprises information relating to a locate or a locate operation. Amanifest may include separately or in combination, and withoutlimitation, information concerning a dig area, environmental landmarks,type and approximate geographic location of the presence or absence ofat least one locate mark, time, date and duration of the locateoperation, facility owner(s), party requesting a locate operation,identity of the locate technician, and/or notes of the locatetechnician.

The term “marking device” means any apparatus, mechanism, or other meansof employing a marking dispenser for causing a marking material and/ormarking object to be dispensed, and the term “marking dispenser system”means a system including, but not limited to, a marking device, amarking dispenser, and an actuator. Further, the term “marking object”means any object and/or objects used or which may be used separately orin combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examples of markingobjects may include, but are not limited to, a flag and/or an RFIDmarking ball, and the term “marking material” means any material,substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron.

Additionally, the term “facility” means one or more lines, cables,fibers, conduits, transmitters, receivers, or other physical objects orstructures capable of or used for carrying, transmitting, receiving,storing, and providing utilities, energy, data, substances, and/orservices, and/or any combination thereof, and the term “undergroundfacility” means any facility beneath the surface of the ground. Examplesof facilities include, but are not limited to, oil, gas, water, sewer,power, telephone, data transmission, cable TV, and/or internet services.

The present disclosure includes a method and system of performingoversight and quality control in field service applications, such aslocate operations, and ticket approval systems. The ticket approvalsystem of the present disclosure provides a mechanism by which approversand/or managers may review the quality of locate operations in real timeand/or within a certain amount of time (e.g., within one day) of thelocate operation. In particular, a ticket approval software applicationof the present disclosure provides a graphical computerized mechanismfor viewing the information, such as images, that is associated withlocate operations, which allows for a rapid and efficient processing oftickets. Examples of images include, but are not limited to, digitalimages, aerial images, and so on. In doing so, approvers and/or managersmay assess the quality of each locate operation in a time efficientmanner. Based on the assessment, locate operations may be categorized ina variety of ways, for example: (1) approved, no further action needed;(2) satisfactory, but the locate technician needs coaching or training;or (3) unsatisfactory, the ticket needs quality control (QC) action.While approvers may be required to assess all tickets of the locatetechnicians under their supervision, a random subset of tickets may beselected for higher managerial review, adding a further level of qualityassurance.

The ticket approval system of the present disclosure maintains anumerical count of approved tickets, coaching referrals, and QCreferrals. In the case of QC referrals, the ticket may require immediatedispatch to the original locate technician or a QC technician. QCreferrals may be considered high priority and, therefore, routed to thenext available time slot of the locate or QC technician, in order tocorrect defects in a timely manner.

The method and system of the present disclosure may be used in a locateoperation. Man-made objects, such as facilities, and in particular,underground facilities (e.g., gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, andcable television lines), are susceptible to damage from various things,such as from excavation. Local and federal laws may require thatnotification be given to facility owners that own underground facilitiesin an excavation area before any excavation takes place. If suchnotification is received, the facility owner typically locates and marksthe location of the underground facilities. By way of example, thefacility owner may use a ticket approval system for and method ofperforming oversight and quality control during a locate operation, asdescribed herein.

Locate operations may be performed, for example, by the facility owner.A marking dispenser system is typically used to create locate marks.Paint is commonly used as the marking material, and it is typicallyapplied using a marking device. The color of the marking material istypically chosen based on the type of underground facility that is beingmarked (e.g., red paint for a power line).

Protocols may exist for verifying certain aspects of locate operationsthat are performed by locate technicians. For example, for each locateoperation, the locate technician may be required to provide certainevidence (e.g., photographs) that may be used in order to verify(against the original ticket) the actual address at which the locateoperation was performed versus the requested address, the actual locateoperations that were performed versus the requested locate operations,and to provide proof that the locate operation was actually performed(i.e., proof of “locate marks”).

The system of the present disclosure provides a mechanism by whichapprovers and/or managers may review the quality of locate operations inreal time and/or within a certain amount of time (e.g., within one day).In particular, a ticket approval software application of the presentdisclosure provides a graphical computerized mechanism for viewing theinformation, for example, digital information, markings, and images,that is associated with the locate operations, which allows rapid andefficient processing of tickets.

Further, approvers and/or managers may quickly assess the quality ofeach locate operation. Based on the assessment, locate operations may becategorized as, for example, (1) approved, no further action needed, (2)satisfactory, but the locate technician needs coaching or training, or(3) unsatisfactory, the ticket needs quality control (QC) action. Whileapprovers may be required to assess all tickets of the locate technicianunder their supervision, a random and/or rules-based subset of ticketsmay be selected for higher managerial review, adding a further level ofoversight and quality assurance.

The ticket approval system of the present disclosure maintains, forexample, a numerical count of approved tickets, coaching referrals andQC referrals. In the case of QC referrals, the ticket may requireimmediate dispatch to the original locate technician or a QC technician.QC referrals may be considered high priority and, therefore, routed tothe next available time slot of the locate technician or QC technicianin order to correct any defects prior to the start of excavation.

Referring to FIG. 1, a functional block diagram of a system 100 forperforming oversight and quality control in locate operations isprovided. System 100 may include a locate service provider 110, whichmay be any facility owner. Additionally, system 100 may include a workmanagement server 112, which is maintained and operated by locateservice provider 110, and which may be any local or centralizedcomputing device, including a processing unit 150, a memory 152, and acommunication interface 154, that is capable of hosting an applicationsuch as a ticket approval application 130, as discussed further below.In implementation, work management server 112 may be a networkedapplication and/or web server.

Personnel that are associated with system 100 may include, but are notlimited to, managers 114, QC approvers 116, approvers 118, QCtechnicians 120, and locate technicians 122 of locate service provider110. Managers 114 may be high-level managers of locate service provider110, including directors and/or company executives of locate serviceprovider 110 that oversee QC approvers 116, approvers 118, QCtechnicians 120 and locate technicians 122. Managers 114 may interactwith the ticket approval application 130 via a display device 156A and auser input device 158A coupled to the work management server 112. It iscontemplated that managers 114, QC approvers 116, approvers 118, QCtechnicians 120 and other locate technicians 122 may also serve in a QCcapacity according to the present disclosure.

QC approvers 116 may be the individuals that are responsible forprocessing any QC referrals and to whom QC technicians 120 may report.QC approvers 116 may interact with the ticket approval application 130via a display device 156B and a user input device 158B coupled to thework management server 112. QC technicians 120 are technicians that aredispatched into the field for performing QC activities. Approvers 118may be the direct supervisors of locate technicians 122. Approvers 118may interact with the ticket approval application 130 via a displaydevice 156C and a user input device 158C coupled to the work managementserver 112. Further, managers 114, QC approvers 116, and/or approvers118 may be the personnel of the customers of locate service provider110. For example, managers 114, QC approvers 116, and/or approvers 118may be service managers of the customers of locate service provider 110who wish to verify the quality of the workflow of locate serviceprovider 110.

Referring again to FIG. 1, system 100 may include various image capturemechanisms 124 by which QC technicians 120 and locate technicians 122provide images of the dig area while performing locate operations. In anexample, image capture mechanism 124 is a consumer or professional gradedigital still or video camera. In another example, image capturemechanism 124 is the device for providing an electronic manifest ofunderground facility locate marks that is described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/029,732 (the “'732 patent application”),entitled “Electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks,”that is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Image capture mechanism 124 may be used to obtain an image used toverify the address of the locate operation, to verify the ticketinformation of the locate operation, and/or to provide proof that thelocate operation was actually performed. For example, image capturemechanism 124 may be used to provide an image of something thatidentifies the location of the dig area, such as an image that shows thestreet number on a mailbox or on a building or a serial number on atelephone pole. In an exemplary embodiment, certain digital cameras andother devices have geographic or global positioning system (GPS)technology integrated therein, which allows GPS data (i.e., dig areadata) to be stored with the image data. In this case, the GPS data maybe used as the dig area identifier mechanism. In addition, image capturemechanism 124 may be used to provide an image of a manifest or similarlog of the ticket, dig area and locate marks. Furthermore, image capturemechanism 124 may be used to provide an image of the dig area showinglocate marks.

Dig area and image (dig area/image) data from image capture mechanisms124 may be transmitted to and stored on, for example, an image server126. Each image from image capture mechanisms 124 is associated with acertain ticket. Image server 126 is connected to the work managementserver 112 via a wired or wireless network 128. Network 128 is, forexample, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), atelephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)or a cellular network, an Internet connection, an Intranet connection,one or more communication links, and/or a combination of networks. Also,dig area/image data from image capture mechanism 124 may be transmitteddirectly to work management server 112, as shown by communication link160.

As noted above, work management server 112 includes a ticket approvalapplication 130 that is implemented via processor-executableinstructions executed by processing unit 150 and a database 132 storedin memory 152. Database 132, created and maintained by any suitabledatabase software, stores relationships between, for example, digarea/image data captured by image capture mechanism 124, tickets 134,locate technicians 122 and approvers 118. For example, database 132 maystore tickets 134 and associated dig area/image data 136.

In an embodiment, ticket approval application 130 is a softwareapplication that provides a graphical computerized mechanism forperforming oversight and quality control in a locate operation.Additional details relating to an example of a method implemented by theticket approval application 130 in an oversight and quality controloperation are described with reference to FIG. 2. Further, additionaldetails of example GUIs of ticket approval application 130 that may bedisplayed on one or more of display devices 156A, 156B and 156C aredescribed with reference to FIGS. 3 through 11.

The features of ticket approval application 130 of system 100 of thepresent disclosure may include, but are not limited to, the following:

a mechanism by which approvers may review tickets rapidly in real timeand/or within a certain amount of time (e.g., within one day) from theticket being executed;

a mechanism by which dig area/image data that is associated withapproved tickets may be stored with the appropriate ticket(s) as a partof the archival process;

a mechanism by which a numerical count of approved tickets, coachingreferrals, and QC referrals, may be maintained for different levels ofthe system;

a mechanism by which, while QC approvers 116 may be required to reviewall tickets of all locate technicians 122 under their supervision, arandom and/or rules-based subset of tickets may be selected for highermanagerial review, which adds a further level of quality assurance;

a mechanism by which tickets that are tagged for QC referral may bedispatched immediately to the original locate technician, QC technician,and/or another locate technician;

a mechanism by which substantially all tasks that are associated with aQC referral may be completed the same day as dispatched and the manifestis revised to reflect any changes that are made on site;

a mechanism by which QC referrals that are not completed on the samebusiness day as referred may be flagged for managerial review andhandling;

a mechanism by which approvers 118 may log and track coaching referrals;

a mechanism by which received data is interrogated against variousaspects and limitations, such as time to complete work, cost to completework, conditions at the work site, time the work was performed (properor improper time), efficiency with which the work was performed, and thelike, to provide exception notifications relating to certain reviewedtickets that can be flagged for review by approver 118;

a mechanism by which coaching opportunities that are not completedwithin a certain amount of time, for example, within ten business days,may be flagged for managerial review and handling; and

a mechanism by which substantially all documentation may beauto-archived, for example, in database 132 of work management server112 as well as in employee personnel files (e.g., human resources files)for use, for example, with tracking employee information and performanceevaluation scoring.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a flow diagram of an example of a method 200 ofperforming oversight and quality control in a locate operation usingsystem 100 is presented. Method 200 may include, but is not limited to,the following steps, which may be implemented in any order.

At step 210, the locate technician completes the ticket and provides digarea data. For example, locate technician 122 is assigned a certainticket and is dispatched to a specific dig area to perform a locateoperation. In the process of performing the locate operation, locatetechnician 122 captures the required dig area/image data via imagecapture mechanism 124. In an example, when image capture mechanism 124is a digital camera, locate technician 122 provides a digital photographthat shows the street number on a building, another digital photographof the paper manifest, and another digital photograph of the dig area,showing locate marks. Additionally, when image capture mechanism 124 isthe device and method of the '732 patent application, the images of thedig area, showing locate marks, are in the form of an image of the digarea that has locate marks electronically overlaid thereon. These locatemarks denote the presence of facilities. The device and method of the'732 patent application provide alternative mechanisms for automaticallyproviding dig area identification information and manifest informationin electronic form for importing into ticket approval application 130.

Upon completion of the locate operation, the dig area/image data ofimage capture mechanism 124 may be transmitted to image server 126 ordirectly to work management server 112. In doing so, the dig area/imagedata is accessible to ticket approval application 130. Additionally, anassociation is formed between the dig area/image data and the ticket.This association between the dig area/image data and the ticket ismaintained throughout the steps of the oversight and quality controlmethod of the present disclosure.

At step 212, an approver opens the ticket approval application 130 andselects a certain locate technician and ticket for quality controlreview. Each approver 118 is responsible for a certain group of locatetechnicians 122. This approver-specific group of locate technicians 122may be called an approver group.

By way of example, FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an approver inboxGUI 300 for use in system 100 of the present disclosure. Approver inboxGUI 300 may be the user interface that is presented to approver 118 uponlogging into ticket approval application 130. Approver inbox GUI 300displays one or more locate technician windows 310 (310 a-310 i),whereby each of locate technician windows 310 is associated with certainlocate technician 122 of the approver group. A display area of approverinbox GUI 300 may indicate the total number of new tickets, coachingreferrals and QC referrals for the approver group. Approver 118 is ableto select a new ticket via a new ticket icon 312 and is able to selecttickets that have been referred for QC via a quality controlled ticketicon 314. Further, approver 118 is able to select tickets that have beenreferred for coaching via a coached ticket icon 316. In an example,approver 118 selects new ticket icon 312 of locate technician window 310a. Ticket approval application 130 reads in the associated ticketinformation and dig area/image data from tickets 134 and dig area/imagedata 136 of database 132.

At step 214, approver 118 reviews the dig area/image data of theselected ticket. For example, approver 118 reviews the ticket of locatetechnician window 310 a that was selected at step 212.

By way of example, FIG. 4 illustrates an approver image viewer GUI 400for use in the ticket approval system of the present disclosure.Approver image viewer GUI 400 may include an image display area 410,multiple text display fields, such as a TICKET MANIFEST display field,and a WORK PERFORMED display field. Other information may be displayed,such as the ticket number, locate technician name, ticket details,locate marks used, and a locate technician signoff field. Additionally,approver 118 may select a navigate back icon 412 in order to return to aprevious GUI, may select an approved icon 414 in order to categorize theticket as satisfactory, may select a QC icon 416 in order to categorizethe ticket as unsatisfactory and needing QC action, and may select acoach icon 418 in order to categorize the ticket as satisfactory, butlocate technician is in need of coaching.

Approver 118 visually inspects the information that is displayed onapprover image viewer GUI 400 and, in particular, compares the dig areaimage in image display area 410 with the information in the TICKETMANIFEST display field and a WORK PERFORMED display field.

If approver 118 determines that substantially all aspects of the locateoperation are satisfactory, approver 118 selects approved icon 414 andmethod 200 proceeds to step 216. For example, if the information in theWORK PERFORMED display field and the markings that are shown at the digarea in image display area 410 satisfactorily match the information inthe TICKET MANIFEST display field, approved icon 414 may be selected andmethod 200 proceeds to step 216. In this case, the risk of a locateerror and damage to facilities during excavation is diminished.

If approver 118 determines that the locate operation itself issatisfactory, but certain aspects of the information that is provided bylocate technician 122 needs improvement, approver 118 selects coach icon418, which generates a coaching referral and method 200 proceeds to step218. For example, the locate operation is satisfactory when theinformation in the WORK PERFORMED display field and the markings thatare shown at the dig area in image display area 410 sufficiently matchthe information in the TICKET MANIFEST display field. In this case, riskof a locate error and damage to underground facilities during excavationmay be low. However, certain details of the markings may need toimprove. For example, a less than desirable anchor point has beenmarked. This may result in a minor inaccuracy, while not presenting arisk of damage during excavation. In this example, locate technician 122may need training with regard to selecting anchor points.

If approver 118 determines that important aspects of the locateoperation are unsatisfactory, approver 118 selects QC icon 416, whichgenerates a QC referral and method 200 proceeds to step 224. In anexample, a gross error that may prompt the need for QC action may bewhen the TICKET MANIFEST calls for gas, power, and water lines to belocated and marked, yet the information in the WORK PERFORMED displayfield and site image in image display area 410 shows that only the gasand power lines were marked. In this example, because the water lineswere not marked, there may be an increased risk of damage to the waterlines during excavation, and immediate corrective action may berequired.

Further to the QC referral example, FIG. 5 illustrates an example of aQC referral popup window 500 for use in the ticket approval system ofthe present disclosure. QC referral popup window 500 shows a selectionof various reasons for which a QC referral may be generated as well as atext box for entering notes. For the above example, QC referral popupwindow 500 shows that the reason for referral is “Member undergroundfacility not seen as noted on manifest” and clarifying notes are shown.QC referral popup window 500 includes a submit QC referral icon 510 anda cancel QC referral icon 512. QC referral popup window 500 is notlimited to the selections shown in FIG. 5 and may be designed to includeany content.

Upon step 216, the ticket approval process is completed. The digarea/image data that is associated with approved tickets may be storedwith the appropriate ticket(s) as a part of an archival process. Thenumerical count of approved tickets for the entire system, for eachapprover group of locate technicians 122 and for individual locatetechnician 122, may be updated and stored.

At step 218, the coaching referral is routed to the approver's inbox.For example, the coaching referral that is generated at step 214 may bemaintained in the inbox of originating approver 118 for a certain periodof time, such as, for example, ten business days. This allows forcoaching schedules to be developed and completed in a timely manner.

At step 220, approver 118 performs the coaching activity with locatetechnician 122. For example, approver 118 steps through one or morecoaching referrals in approver's 118 inbox for targeted locatetechnician 122 and performs one or more coaching activities, accordingto the contents of each coaching referral.

At step 222, locate technician 122 and approver 118 sign off on thecoaching activities as acknowledgement that the coaching activity hasbeen completed. A positive report of completing the coaching activitiesmay be logged, for example, in the personnel file of locate technician122. The one or more coaching referrals may then be removed from theinbox of approver 118.

At step 224, the ticket that is the subject of QC referral of step 214is routed to a certain QC approver 116 for review. For example, certainQC approver 116 opens ticket approval application 130, views QCapprover's inbox and selects a certain locate technician and ticket forwhich a QC review has been requested.

By way of example, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a QC approver inboxGUI 600 for use in the ticket approval system of the present disclosure.QC approver inbox GUI 600 may be the user interface that is presented tocertain QC approver 116 upon logging into ticket approval application130. QC approver inbox GUI 600 (610 a-610 c) displays one or more locatetechnician windows 610, whereby each locate technician window 610 isassociated with certain locate technician 122 and QC referral. A displayarea of QC approver inbox GUI 600 shows the total number of QCreferrals. QC approver 116 is able to select any locate technicianwindow 610, for example, QC approver 116 selects locate technicianwindow 610 a. Ticket approval application 130 reads in the associatedticket information and dig area/image data from tickets 134 and digarea/image data 136 of database 132.

At decision step 226, QC approver 116 determines whether to accept orreject the QC referral. For example, QC approver 116 reviews the digarea/image data of the selected QC referral. By way of example, FIG. 7illustrates a QC approver image viewer GUI 700 for use in the ticketapproval system of the present disclosure.

QC approver image viewer GUI 700 may include image display area 410, theTICKET MANIFEST display field, the WORK PERFORMED display field, andother information, as described in approver image viewer GUI 400 of FIG.4. Additionally, QC approver image viewer GUI 700 includes a navigateback icon 412, an approved icon 414, a QC icon 416 and a coach icon 418,as described in approver image viewer GUI 400 of FIG. 4. QC approverimage viewer GUI 700 may also include a text field for displaying notesthat were entered by originating approver 118 and additional selectionsand/or text fields for routing the QC request to original locatetechnician 122 or to certain QC technician 120.

QC approver 116 visually inspects the information that is displayed onQC approver image viewer GUI 700 and compares the dig area image inimage display area 410 with the information in the TICKET MANIFESTdisplay field and a WORK PERFORMED display field. QC approver 116determines whether QC approver 116 is in agreement with originatingapprover 118 that the ticket requires QC action.

If QC approver 116 determines that QC action is needed, method 200proceeds to step 228. If QC approver 116 determines that no QC action isneeded, method 200 proceeds to step 234. FIG. 8 illustrates an exampleof a reject QC popup window 800 for use in system 100. Reject QC popupwindow 800 may include a text field for entering the reason forrejection as well as a submit QC rejection icon 810 and a cancel QCrejection icon 812.

Optionally, QC approver 116 may determine that no QC action is needed,but coaching is recommended. In this case, method 200 proceeds to step218. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a coaching popup window 900 foruse in system 100. Coaching popup window 900 may include a text fieldfor entering the reason for coaching as well as a submit coachingrequest icon 910 and a cancel coaching request icon 912.

At step 228, QC approver 116 routes the ticket to a QC technician forexecution. For example, QC approver 116 makes note of the QC action thatis needed via QC approver image viewer GUI 700. In the example of step214, wherein the water lines should have been marked, but were not, QCapprover 116 makes a note that the water lines were not marked. QCapprover 116 then routes the QC request to original (or alternate)locate technician 122 or to certain QC technician 120 who returns to thedig area to perform the required tasks (e.g., to mark the water lines).

At step 230, QC technician 120 completes the ticket and provides updateddig area/image data. For example, revisiting the dig area in order toperform the tasks that are necessary to satisfy the QC referral. Uponcompletion of the QC operation, the dig area/image data of the imagecapture mechanism 124 is transmitted to image server 126 or directly towork management server 112. In doing so, the updated dig area/image datais accessible to ticket approval application 130.

At step 232, approver 118 that originated the QC referral opens approverinbox GUI 300 and reviews the updated ticket via approver image viewerGUI 400. FIG. 10 illustrates another example of approver image viewerGUI 400 that includes additional information. For example, approver 118is able to view additional notes that have been added along the entirehistory of the ticket by, for example, QC approver 116 who processed theQC referral and/or QC technician 120 who was assigned to perform the QCoperation. Additionally, approver 118 is able to view the original digarea images supplied by original locate technician 122 as well as thenew dig area images supplied by QC technician 120. Method 200 returns tostep 212 where approver 118 may again review the updated ticket similarto any other ticket.

At step 234, certain QC approver 116 routes the ticket back to theoriginating approver 118. Method 200 returns to step 212 where approver118 may again review the ticket similar to any other ticket.

Method 200 is not limited to the operations that are described in FIG.2. Other operations may occur, such as tracking the status of QCreferrals, flagging delinquent QC referrals, tracking the status ofcoaching referrals, flagging delinquent coaching referrals, tracking thetotal ticket numbers across the entire service provider, and dashboardreporting. For example, FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a ticketsummary GUI 1100 for use in the ticket approval system of the presentdisclosure. At any time, manager 114 may view the current numericalcount of approved tickets, coaching referrals and QC referrals. Forexample, the ticket summary GUI 1100 shows a summary of these counts,organized by approver groups.

In an alternative embodiment, an example of a real time (orsubstantially real time) method of performing oversight and qualitycontrol in locate operations using the ticket approval system of thepresent disclosure may be enabled by use of, for example, emailinfrastructure. In this embodiment, work management server 112 and, inparticular, ticket approval application 130 may be accessible via anemail application and there may be email communication between entities.Upon completion of a ticket, locate technician 122 may send an email toapprover 118 that includes substantially the same content as shown inapprover image viewer GUI 400. By use of an email application, approver118 may process the ticket much the way that has been described in FIGS.1 through 11, wherein the various GUIs are viewed and processed via theemail application. In this embodiment, the workflow is being pushed fromlocate technicians 122 to approvers 118, rather than being pulled byapprovers 118 from locate technicians 122. It is further contemplatedthat approver 118 will provide a signature, such as, an electronicsignature or other indicator to signify completion of the reviewprocess.

Similarly, the use of additional communication devices such as mobiletelephones, PDAs, portable computers (i.e., laptops and tablet PCs),text messaging and the like are contemplated within all aspects of thepresent disclosure. By use of one or more of the additionalcommunication devices, any manager/approver/QC technician/locatetechnician (114, 116, 118 and 120) may process the tickets much the waythat has been described in FIGS. 1 through 11, wherein the various GUIsare viewed and processed via any of the one or more additionalcommunication instruments.

Further, it is contemplated that dig area and image data, tickets andrelated communications according to the present disclosure can be madethrough wireless interfaces including, for example, an Intranetconnection, Internet, Bluetooth® technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11technology, radio frequency (RF), Infrared Data Association (IrDA)compatible protocols, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks(WAN), Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP), combinations thereof, andother types of wireless networking protocols. Additionally, the wirelessinterface may be capable of capturing signals that reflect a user'sintent. For example, the wireless interface may include a microphonethat can capture a user's intent by capturing the user's audiblestatements or commands. Alternatively, the wireless interface mayinteract with a device that monitors a condition or biological state ofthe user, such as eye movement, brain activity, heart rate, and/or othersubtle signals.

While the ticket approval system and methods of FIGS. 1 through 11 havebeen described in the context of underground facility locateapplications, this is only for exemplary purposes. The ticket approvalsystem and method of the present disclosure may be applicable to anyfield service or distributed workforce application.

Furthermore, while the ticket approval system and methods of FIGS. 1through 11 have been described in the context of oversight and qualitycontrol of locate operations, the system and methods of the presentdisclosure are not limited to locate operations involving undergroundfacilities only. The system and methods of the present disclosure aresuitable for performing quality control of locate operations, activitiesto detect or infer the presence or absence of above ground facilities,and any combination thereof. Additionally, the system and methods of thepresent disclosure can be used in other industries and practices suchas, for example, used in the inspection practices of the building andconstruction fields.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the present disclosure unlessexplicitly described as such. In addition, as used herein, the article“a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item isintended, the term “one” or similar language is used.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made to theembodiments disclosed herein. Therefore, the above description shouldnot be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of thevarious embodiments of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the artwill envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of theclaims appended hereto.

1. In a system comprising at least one processing unit, at least onememory, at least one communications interface, at least one displaydevice, and at least one user interface device, a method for assessing alocate and marking operation performed by a first locate technician, thelocate and marking operation comprising identifying a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility within a dig area byplacing at least one physical locate mark in the dig area, wherein atleast a portion of the dig area is to be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities, the method comprising: A) electronicallyreceiving via the at least one communications interface a copy of aticket as provided to the first locate technician prior to performingthe locate and marking operation, the ticket including ticketinformation regarding the locate and marking operation to be performed;B) electronically receiving via the at least one communicationsinterface a locate manifest regarding the locate and marking operationas performed by the first locate technician, the locate manifestincluding at least one digital image associated with the dig area,wherein the at least one digital image includes a marked-up image of ageographic area surrounding the dig area, the marked-up image includingat least one digital representation of the at least one physical locatemark electronically overlaid thereon; C) electronically associating, viathe at least one processing unit, the locate manifest received in B)with the ticket received in A); D) displaying on the at least onedisplay device at least a portion of the locate manifest, at least someof the ticket information, and a plurality of icons representingdifferent possible quality assessments of the locate and markingoperation performed by the first locate technician, the plurality oficons including: an approved icon representing a satisfactory locate andmarking operation performed by the first locate technician; a QC iconrepresenting an unsatisfactory locate and marking operation performed bythe first locate technician; and a coach icon representing that thefirst locate technician requires coaching; E) receiving a selection, viathe at least one user interface, of one of the approved icon, the QCicon, and the coach icon so as to provide a quality assessment of thelocate and marking operation performed by the first locate technician;F) generating, via the at least one processing unit, an electronicrecord of the quality assessment of the locate and marking operationperformed by the first locate technician based on the selection receivedin E), the electronic record further comprising the ticket informationand the associated locate manifest; and G) storing the electronic recordin the at least one memory.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingelectronically maintaining a numerical count of satisfactory locate andmarking operations, unsatisfactory locate and marking operations, andlocate and marking operations requiring coaching based on E).
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein D), E) and F) are completed within one day ofthe first locate technician performing the locate and marking operation.4. The method of claim 1, wherein B) comprises electronically receivingthe locate manifest via email.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein theticket information comprises at least one of: a ticket number; anaddress or other location information regarding the dig area; and atleast one member code identifying a facility owner of the at least oneunderground facility.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onedigital image comprises GPS data associated with the dig area.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the locate manifest further comprises atleast one of: a time, date and/or duration of the locate and markingoperation; a ticket number for the ticket associated with the locatemanifest; an address or other location information regarding the digarea; at least one first identifier for a facility owner of the at leastone underground facility; at least one second identifier relating towork performed during the locate and marking operation; a thirdidentifier for a party requesting the locate and marking operation; afourth identifier for the first locate technician performing the locateand marking operation; a signature of the first locate technician; afifth identifier for a crew to which the first locate technicianbelongs; at least one sixth identifier for one or more types of locatemarkings used for the locate and marking operation; and one or morenotes made by the first locate technician.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein: the displayed portion of the locate manifest comprises the atleast one digital image and a work performed text display field; and thedisplayed ticket information includes a ticket manifest text displayfield.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein E) comprises receiving theselection based at least in part on a comparison of the at least onedigital image with the ticket manifest text display field and the workperformed text display field.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein E)comprises receiving the selection based at least in part on at least oneof: a time required to complete the locate and marking operation; a timeat which the locate and marking operation was performed; a cost of thelocate and marking operation; one or more conditions associated with thedig area; a number of facilities to be located as indicated in theticket information; a discrepancy between the facilities to be locatedas indicated in the ticket information, but not indicated as marked inthe locate manifest; and an efficiency with which the first locatetechnician performed the locate and marking operation.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising maintaining the electronic record of thequality assessment of the locate and marking operation in an employeepersonnel file for the first locate technician.
 12. A computer-readablestorage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on at leastone processing unit, perform a method for assessing a locate and markingoperation performed by a first locate technician, the locate and markingoperation comprising identifying a presence or an absence of at leastone underground facility within a dig area by placing at least onephysical locate mark in the dig area, wherein at least a portion of thedig area is to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities,the method comprising: A) electronically receiving a copy of a ticket asprovided to the first locate technician prior to performing the locateand marking operation, the ticket including ticket information regardingthe locate and marking operation to be performed; B) electronicallyreceiving a locate manifest regarding the locate and marking operationas performed by the first locate technician, the locate manifestincluding at least one digital image associated with the dig area,wherein the at least one digital image includes a marked-up image of ageographic area surrounding the dig area, the marked-up image includingat least one digital representation of the at least one physical locatemark electronically overlaid thereon; C) electronically associating thelocate manifest received in B) with the ticket received in A); D)displaying at least a portion of the locate manifest, at least some ofthe ticket information, and a plurality of icons representing differentpossible quality assessments of the locate and marking operationperformed by the first locate technician, the plurality of iconsincluding: an approved icon representing a satisfactory locate andmarking operation performed by the first locate technician; a QC iconrepresenting an unsatisfactory locate and marking operation performed bythe first locate technician; and a coach icon representing that thefirst locate technician requires coaching; E) receiving a selection ofone of the approved icon, the QC icon, and the coach icon so as toprovide a quality assessment of the locate and marking operationperformed by the first locate technician; F) generating an electronicrecord of the quality assessment of the locate and marking operationperformed by the first locate technician based on the selection receivedin E), the electronic record further comprising the ticket informationand the associated locate manifest; and G) storing the electronicrecord.
 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the methodfurther comprises electronically maintaining a numerical count ofsatisfactory locate and marking operations, unsatisfactory locate andmarking operations, and locate and marking operations requiring coachingbased on E).
 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein B)comprises electronically receiving the locate manifest via email. 15.The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the ticket informationcomprises at least one of: a ticket number; an address or other locationinformation regarding the dig area; and at least one member codeidentifying a facility owner of the at least one underground facility.16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the at least onedigital image comprises GPS data associated with the dig area.
 17. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the locate manifestfurther comprises at least one of: a time, date and/or duration of thelocate and marking operation; a ticket number for the ticket associatedwith the locate manifest; an address or other location informationregarding the dig area; at least one first identifier for a facilityowner of the at least one underground facility; at least one secondidentifier relating to work performed during the locate and markingoperation; a third identifier for a party requesting the locate andmarking operation; a fourth identifier for the first locate technicianperforming the locate and marking operation; a signature of the firstlocate technician; a fifth identifier for a crew to which the firstlocate technician belongs; at least one sixth identifier for one or moretypes of locate markings used for the locate and marking operation; andone or more notes made by the first locate technician.
 18. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein: the displayed portion ofthe locate manifest comprises the at least one digital image and a workperformed text display field; and the displayed ticket informationincludes a ticket manifest text display field.
 19. The computer-readablemedium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises maintaining theelectronic record of the quality assessment of the locate and markingoperation in an employee personnel file for the first locate technician.20. An apparatus for assessing a locate and marking operation performedby a first locate technician, the locate and marking operationcomprising identifying a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area by placing at least one physicallocate mark in the dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, theapparatus comprising: a communication interface; at least one displaydevice; at least one user input device; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to thecommunication interface, the at least one display device, the at leastone user input device, and the memory, wherein upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processingunit: A) controls the communication interface to electronically receivea copy of a ticket as provided to the first locate technician prior toperforming the locate and marking operation, the ticket including ticketinformation regarding the locate and marking operation to be performedby the first locate technician; B) controls the communication interfaceto electronically receive a locate manifest regarding the locate andmarking operation as performed by the first locate technician, thelocate manifest including at least one digital image associated with thedig area, wherein the at least one digital image includes a marked-upimage of a geographic area surrounding the dig area, the marked-up imageincluding at least one digital representation of the at least onephysical locate mark electronically overlaid thereon; C) electronicallyassociates the locate manifest received in B) with the ticket receivedin A); D) controls the at least one display device to display at least aportion of the locate manifest, at least some of the ticket information,and a plurality of icons representing different possible qualityassessments of the locate and marking operation performed by the firstlocate technician, the plurality of icons including: an approved iconrepresenting a satisfactory locate and marking operation performed bythe first locate technician; a QC icon representing an unsatisfactorylocate and marking operation performed by the first locate technician;and a coach icon representing that the first locate technician requirescoaching; E) receives, via the at least one user interface device, aselection of one of the approved icon, the QC icon, and the coach iconso as to provide a quality assessment of the locate and markingoperation performed by the first locate technician; F) generates anelectronic record of the quality assessment of the locate and markingoperation performed by the first locate technician based on theselection received in E), the electronic record further comprising theticket information and the associated locate manifest; and G) controlsthe memory so as to store the electronic record.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 20, wherein the processing unit further electronically maintains anumerical count of satisfactory locate and marking operations,unsatisfactory locate and marking operations, and locate and markingoperations requiring coaching based on E).
 22. The apparatus of claim20, wherein D), E), and F) are completed by the processing unit withinone day of the first locate technician performing the locate and markingoperation.
 23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing unitelectronically receives the locate manifest via email.
 24. The apparatusof claim 20, wherein the ticket information comprises at least one of: aticket number; an address or other location information regarding thedig area; and at least one member code identifying a facility owner ofthe at least one underground facility.
 25. The apparatus of claim 20,wherein the at least one digital image comprises GPS data associatedwith the dig area.
 26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the locatemanifest further comprises at least one of: a time, date and/or durationof the locate and marking operation; a ticket number for the ticketassociated with the locate manifest; an address or other locationinformation regarding the dig area; at least one first identifier for afacility owner of the at least one underground facility; at least onesecond identifier relating to work performed during the locate andmarking operation; a third identifier for a party requesting the locateand marking operation; a fourth identifier for the first locatetechnician performing the locate and marking operation; a signature ofthe first locate technician; a fifth identifier for a crew to which thefirst locate technician belongs; at least one sixth identifier for oneor more types of locate markings used for the locate and markingoperation; and one or more notes made by the first locate technician.27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein: the displayed portion of thelocate manifest comprises the at least one digital image and a workperformed text display field; and the displayed ticket informationincludes a ticket manifest text display field.
 28. The apparatus ofclaim 27, wherein the processing unit receives the selection based atleast in part on a comparison of the at least one digital image with theticket manifest text display field and the work performed text displayfield.
 29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing unitreceives the selection based at least in part on at least one of: a timerequired to complete the locate and marking operation; a time at whichthe locate and marking operation was performed; a cost of the locate andmarking operation; one or more conditions associated with the dig area;a number of facilities to be located as indicated in the ticketinformation; a discrepancy between the facilities to be located asindicated in the ticket information, but not indicated as marked in thelocate manifest; and an efficiency with which the first locatetechnician performed the locate and marking operation.
 30. The apparatusof claim 20, wherein the processing unit further maintains theelectronic record of the quality assessment of the locate and markingoperation in an employee personnel file for the first locate technician.